Maine mom asks Supreme Court to hear school gender‑transition case
Maine mother Amber Lavigne, represented by the Goldwater Institute, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review her parental‑rights lawsuit alleging Great Salt Bay Community School staff gave her 13‑year‑old a chest binder and used a different name and pronouns at school without informing her. After a federal district judge dismissed the suit in 2024 and the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in July 2025, the petition asks the Court to clarify whether parents have a constitutional right to be notified when public schools recognize and facilitate a child’s gender transition and whether courts may dismiss such cases based on "alternative explanations" before evidence is developed. The article also notes separate Title IX investigations in which the U.S. Department of Education found Maine not in compliance over biological males in girls’ sports and has begun the process of cutting off federal K‑12 education funding to the state.
📌 Key Facts
- Amber Lavigne alleges that in December 2022 a school social worker gave her 13‑year‑old daughter a chest binder and staff used a different name and pronouns without telling her.
- A federal judge dismissed Lavigne’s suit in 2024 and the 1st Circuit affirmed in July 2025, finding she had not pleaded facts showing a permanent policy or custom of concealing information.
- The Goldwater Institute filed a petition for certiorari on Dec. 22 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if parents have a constitutional right to be notified when schools facilitate a child’s gender transition.
- The petition also asks the Court to limit lower courts’ ability to dismiss parental‑rights claims at the pleading stage based on speculative "alternative explanations."
- Separately, the U.S. Department of Education determined in 2024 that Maine was not in Title IX compliance over participation of biological males in girls’ athletics and has begun steps to cut off federal K‑12 funds.
📊 Relevant Data
In 2023, 3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender.
Transgender identification among young adults increased by 422% from 0.59% in 2014 to 3.08% in 2023.
Transgender identity: How much has it increased? — Generation Tech
People who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth are three to six times as likely to be autistic as cisgender people.
Largest study to date confirms overlap between autism and gender diversity — The Transmitter
The contemporary sex ratio of transgender youth favors assigned females at birth.
The contemporary sex ratio of transgender youth that favors assigned females at birth is a robust phenomenon: A response to the letter to the editor by Mason and Petterson — Taylor & Francis Online
In a German study, the persistence rate of gender dysphoria diagnosis was 27.3% for adolescent females aged 15-19.
The Gender Dysphoria Diagnosis in Young People Has a “Low Stability” — Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine
An average of 5 years after initial social transition, 7.3% of youth had retransitioned at least once.
Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition — PMC - NIH
The sex difference in athletic performance where endurance or muscular power is required is roughly 10-30% depending on the event, with males outperforming females.
The Biological Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance — ACSM
Males have 10-12% faster times in most linear swimming and running events compared to females.
Trans Inclusion & Women's Sport — Women in Sport